Anyone know if you can get a government rate booking through Carlson? Sounds like you can steer them to whichever rate is available on the hotel website, but would love to know if this is an option before I apply

This feature is listed as a MasterCard benefit. I take this to mean that MasterCard, not Citi, has contracted with Carlson Wagonlit. This suggests that it will also become available on other MasterCard World Elite products -and- that Citi will not determine when the benefit is changed or withdrawn.

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Originally Posted by nall

i might need to book two or three rooms at a hotel. Any idea if I can get the fourth night free in each one?

Also, I assume I can't charge this to a different Citi card.

The terms are poorly worded, but I read the final sentence to mean that the room must be occupied by the primary cardholder. Other interpretations are plausible (see post 26, but note that it was booked under a prior version of the program):

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To receive your complimentary night (via a statement credit) you must:
Make a reservation for a minimum, consecutive four-night stay by contacting the Citi Prestige Concierge, to book directly with a designated travel advisorFully pay for your stay with a Citi Prestige Card.

Only one complimentary night is eligible per room reservation. Rates provided will be equal to or lower than the lowest publicly-available fare at the hotel's official website. The benefit can only be used by each primary account Cardholder.

I will be traveling to London next September with my wife and brother and sister-in-law. My wife and I have tons of hotel points, so we'll be looking for that route. My brother and sister-in-law are blessed with an unusually high household income, so they've never been too bothered with points (I know the two are far from mutually exclusive...just how it played out for them). There shouldn't be any problem with me booking points for one room and using this benefit for another room at the same hotel, right? Or can one person not have two reservations on the same name at the same time and check in for both? Pretty basic question, but it's new territory for me.

... can one person not have two reservations on the same name at the same time and check in for both? ...

In 2014 I twice booked two rooms with separate reservations. Once at a Hyatt and once at a Four Points. When booking online I usually include a note cross referencing the reservations. In your circumstance I would contact the hotel after both reservations have been made and explain that you need two rooms, one paid, one award. I wouldn't expect a problem, but if there is one it's better to deal with it in advance, than at check-in.

What about a super expensive safari lodge that is only bookable by travel agents?

I believe Airbnb wouldn't work. However, the Carlson Wagonlit Travel service is a travel agent service as far as I know. You may have luck with the other options. The way booking works is as follows:
1) Call Citi Prestige Concierge
2) Describe to the agent that you want to book travel, using the 4th night free
3) Concierge agent will conference in a travel agent (from CWT)
4) You discuss with the travel agent where and when you are going, which properties you are interested in, etc... just as you might with any agent. They will also ask for a best way to be contacted back, I always suggest email as they can just email me details and I can review them at my leisure.
5) After a period of time (usually <24hrs), the agent will reach out to you with the results. If over email, they'll send you a fully detailed report of the hotels/properties you requested information for, or any additional they might have found. This will include the daily rate and any 4th night free benefits you will receive, all with exact dollar (or local currency) amounts.
6) You call back to the concierge, then they connect you with the travel service (CWT), and you can book the option(s) you like best. The booking portion might be doable over email, but I've never tried.

Given that sequence, you could almost certainly request any property you'd want. Whether or not they can book it would be another story. It's hard to make a blanket statement about situations without trying.

A fellow FT member with the Prestige card and some free time might be able to call the CWT service and try to "book" something given a sample itinerary with your properties to see if they are available.

Thanks. Also can something like 10-20 4th night free sequences be booked in a row (eg for a 2 month stay)?

I don't see why you couldn't do that. You'd just have to deal with checking in/out at the respective properties and managing lots of bookings. The CWT agent might give you some grief, so it may be best to break it up into a few different calls / booking sessions.

Just an FYI, that apparently they go back and subtract the thank you points earned for the hotel credit based on my conversation with customer service.

This wouldn't be terribly surprising, although I'd be curious if they remove them at the 3x rate or not. I believe when Chase issues refunds, they simply subtract points at the 1x rate instead of any multiple.

You would still receive hotel points for the entirety of the stay, though. I'm using this for a few SPG stays and it will go nicely with the recent SPG promo for bonus points.

This wouldn't be terribly surprising, although I'd be curious if they remove them at the 3x rate or not. I believe when Chase issues refunds, they simply subtract points at the 1x rate instead of any multiple.

You would still receive hotel points for the entirety of the stay, though. I'm using this for a few SPG stays and it will go nicely with the recent SPG promo for bonus points.

Booked two rooms each for 4 days in Taipei W in this Sep, just before the rule changed. Both rooms got the fourth day credit back to my prestige card. And I also got the whole points and 8 nights stay credit to my SPG account. And one room was upgraded to a fabulous suite. Just booked a four nights stay in Westin Sydney during the new year. The price is the same as the SPG website. Will report the result.

The points and stay credit posted to my SPG account. The hotel was full and I did not get any upgrade.